Lucy Letby found guilty.

It’s very suffocating being a much loved only child that is your parents universe. You also leave home as quite a selfish person as you’re not used to sharing with other people eg I would eat the last biscuits in a tin without thinking that other people in the house might have wanted one. It took me a while to learn to think of others. Maybe, even though she wanted to escape the suffocation of being an only child she still craved attention: perhaps the first death was an accident and she revelled in the attention it gave her? It made me think of The Sixth Commandment ( which is still fresh in my mind) and the fact that the murderer in that kept an incriminating journal. I would assume that all serial killers subconsciously want to be caught ie what’s the point in doing something if no one knows about it. I’ve been watching Extraordinary Portraits (my latest binge watch) and have been in tears at each portrait reveal, because it’s about NHS workers who are at the opposite end of the scale to Letby. It’s so wrong that NHS workers have been tainted by this woman.

nanna8

How do you know she was well treated or perhaps you believe everything you read in the papers ? There is such a thing as psychological abuse. No one will know either way . I know from my working life that psychological abuse has very long standing effects and a seemingly ‘good’ and loving family may not be what it appears on the surface. I don’t know any more than the rest of you. Oh, and I haven’t read anything about the case we don’t get newspapers and it is not on our tv.

If you haven't read anything about the case, how can you possibly make any judgements about it? We all know psychological abuse exists - but if there had been even a hint of that in Letby's background, her defence team would have been all over it like a rash.

Not all only children are either much-loved nor suffocated.

I don’t know any more than the rest of you. Oh, and I haven’t read anything about the case we don’t get newspapers and it is not on our tv

Then, with respect, Nanna8 it sounds as if you may know less than those of us who have read about the case, seen the excellent Panorama programme, seen or read the interviews with the paediatric consultants at the Countess of Chester, former Medical Director and people who knew Lucy Letby from her childhood and growing up.

The Panorama programme was excellent and, if you are interested nanna8, it may be available in Australia.

Some of us have been following this case from the start.

It’s very suffocating being a much loved only child that is your parents universe. You also leave home as quite a selfish person as you’re not used to sharing with other people eg I would eat the last biscuits in a tin without thinking that other people in the house might have wanted one
That is very sad to read. So what is so awful about a secure and loving childhood?
Honestly, parents can’t get it right can they?
A “much loved only child” is close to what I was as my sister was a lot older than me and not around for most of my childhood or adolescence. Never, ever ate the last biscuit in the tin either!
And those of us who have raised singletons- should they be searching their souls and racked with guilt?
Not everything is down to your childhood.

I agree with all the comments here regarding the management of this dreadful, tragic situation. I'm angry too. I was angry as a nurse manager when my hands were tied by the Director of HR who would not support me in disciplining nurses who were poorly performing, leaving patients inadequately cared for. I also experienced a timid Board who took forever to deal with a very poor GP who eventually just upsticks and left his patients in the lurch. Guess who was despatched to clear up that mess. The examples across the country must be legion due to poor management but in Nurse Letby's case the results were horribly tragic. I hope the inquiry is Chaired by someone experienced enough to turn every stone in pursuit of the truth.

My total sympathy lies only with the parents of these precious babies.

Blondiescot

Not all only children are either much-loved nor suffocated.

But some are.
We don't know about Letby's unless we are told.

Not all children who had suffocating childhoods turn out to be serial murderers either.

I’m an only child, so was my mother and so is my son. All much loved. None of us selfish or suffocated.

Whatever her childhood, it seems that some are making excuses for her. I don't care what her reasons are. She is a monster.

We raised an only child too and she is neither of those things GSM

I am married to an only child, who was much loved, but certainly not suffocated. I used to say of my lovely MiL that if at 16 DH had decided to go to Australia, she would have packed his bags and waved him off with a smile, and wept in private.

To make sweeping statements like that about only children, who can be counted in their millions, where women committing crimes like LL's can be counted on the fingers of one hand, strikes me as quite ridiculous.

“The only thing necessary for evil to triumph in the world is that good men do nothing”. I know hindsight is a wonderful thing but the management should have listened to the doctors and given their concerns the respect they deserved.

Also, why oh why did nobody place a hidden camera in the rooms where she worked. It has been done in many other care scenarios successfully. Before anyone says it is illegal, I simply don’t care! The ends justify the means.

Got to wonder if more CCTV coverage would be a good idea on some specialist units where ‘one to one’ care is required?

Not hidden. Accountable by the Trust. A orm of diligent monitoring.

'Senior doctors demanded the installation of CCTV cameras at a hospital unit if Lucy Letby was allowed to return to nursing duties, her murder trial has heard. Concerns over an “accumulating number of inexplicable collapses” reached a “tipping point” with the deaths of two newborn triplets in June 2016, a consultant told Manchester Crown Court.

Dr John Gibbs told jurors that a number of “key safety measures” were then introduced including the removal of Letby from the neonatal unit. However a month later he said hospital bosses wanted Letby – whom the consultants had identified as “the common link” to the collapses – back on the unit.'

I'd hate to have been on that jury. Of course the suffering of those parents is unimaginable and my heart goes out to them. However, I find it unimaginable that anyone far less a nurse could have done this. Her notes indicate a person in mental torment. She knew she was doing evil things and hated herself for it yet she continued to carry out her dreadful acts. She obviously enjoyed the attention and gratitude from parents after them. Weird, mad, Munchausens? Whatever, she won't be released in her lifetime and will certainly be very unpopular in any prison.

I wonder why the top managers or whatever you call them were so insistent that she went back and was given an apology. She was just one nurse. I assume they were afraid regarding the grievance she had taken out, or was threatening to take out.

I sometimes think about the defending barristers in this type of case - trying to defend the indefensible. The man who defended Lucy Letby was on the Radio, after the verdict. He said that the system in his chambers is that barristers take the next case on offer - no choice. He explained that if he hadn't done his best, then there might be room for some 'smart arse' in the Appeal Court system - and I don't think I misheard that description - to suggest she hadn't had a fair trial and hadn't been properly defended. He seemed to speak from the heart, and that is the first time I have truly understood how a barrister can cope with a client such as Lucy Letby. They are working to ensure justice all round.

There are now being further investigations about the other children treated whilst LL was working on the unit over a 4 year period prior to her removal, also investigating her work at another neo-natal unit before she started working at Countess of Chester,I think she just didn't wake up one morning and started doing this horrendous thing, has she done this before and gotten away with it ?

Kate1949

I wonder why the top managers or whatever you call them were so insistent that she went back and was given an apology. She was just one nurse. I assume they were afraid regarding the grievance she had taken out, or was threatening to take out.

It’s more likely that they couldn’t find any conclusive evidence to link the cases to her I would think. Bear in mind it took the police over a year to find enough evidence to arrest her.

I wonder if these excessive deaths on Chester NICU were reported to the coroner. It seems strange if not, because surely that would have set off alarm bells.

Wasn’t Harold Shipman caught by a doctor referring excessive deaths in Shipman’s practice to coroner?

Yes possibly Casdon.

*However, there are things that need to come out about why it took several months from concerns being raised to the top brass before any action was taken to protect babies, and why from that time it then took almost a year for those highly paid senior managers to allow the police to be involved.

The truth of what happened during that time will shock you to the core as it comes out. The safety of patients should come above any risk of reputational damage*

From Dr Javaram.

Maybe a bit out of context.
But looks like more to come out of all of this, regarding "management".

Kate1949

Whatever her childhood, it seems that some are making excuses for her. I don't care what her reasons are. She is a monster.

I totally agree with you there. Many people have absolutely horrific childhoods and yet still grow up to be perfectly normal, well-adjusted adults. I'm sure her defence team will have exhausted all avenues in trying to come up with some explanation for what she did, but at the end of the day, she still killed those poor babies and left others with life-changing effects.